Chapter 4: The Study of the Self from Physics To Metaphysics

Nobody can deny the existence of human
society, without which day-to-day life itself is unimaginable. The universe is
made more of unseen, invisible things than what one can even conceive of. It is
not merely what appears to be there to the eyes. There is a mystery behind it
to be unravelled. The pure materialists and even the Samkhya thinkers, however,
ignore these invisible but vital factors. Thus, they fail, finally. Not only this;
probably, the very approach and the stance taken by them is inadequate to the
purpose. Their failure to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion in the study of
the universe from a purely materialistic and mechanistic point of view suggests
that an entirely new angle of vision is called for.

Gravitation
Suggests an Organic Interconnectedness in the Universe

Generally, we have the feeling that matter
is contained as a substance inside space. Very rarely does one feel that there
is such a thing called time. Man is inviolably connected with the process of
time. Yet, he thinks very little of it, but is acutely conscious of space. The
dimensions of matter, which man identifies with the substances of the world,
are due to the extensions of space. There is what is called distance, and that
principle of distance is due to the existence of space. Man has an intuitional
apperception of the characteristic of space, such that he does not bother much
about its nature. He thinks that it is all clear. Everyone knows what space is
- it is a kind of emptiness, we think, which contains every blessed thing. This
was the original eighteenth or nineteenth century conclusion of even physics,
which led to the notion that the universe of astronomy is an arrangement of
material bodies which were formed out of the galaxies, and which constituted
the solar system, the earth, the planets, etc.

However, it is not evidently easy to accept
that bodies are scattered independently in space, as if they have no connection
whatsoever among themselves. It is not that one mountain is here, another
there; or one tree is here, and another there, without any connection between
the two. If they were independent, there would be no gravitation at all. But
even such bodies as planets are subject to this force of gravitation; what to
speak of other things? There is an attraction of bodies in a mechanistic
manner, as is usually held, conditioned by a mathematical formula. But, really,
can the relation be purely mechanistic? How is it possible that there is such a
pull among bodies, if there is no internal organic relation among themselves?
This is a point that has been unearthed recently in modern physics. The
presence of a pull known as gravitation implies, and should imply, an inward,
or rather an invisible organic relation between one body and another,
notwithstanding that there is a distance of some light years between them. Look
at the distance between the sun and the earth, an unimaginable one. Yet the
gravitational attraction of the solar orb is so intense that it can compel the
planets to move round in their orbits, the spatial emptiness that is between
them making no difference. It is, therefore, not true that space is emptiness
because by emptiness or vacuum, generally, an absolute nothingness is meant. An
absolute nothing cannot become a medium of movement of any force such as
gravitation. There is a necessary movement of a connecting link in an invisible
form so that gravitation becomes possible. How could the phenomenon of a total
vacuum operating as a medium of action between bodies be explained? The
principle of gravitation is a visible indication that matter is not located in
one place. There is an organic interconnection between bodies. This is a deeper
implication that comes to the surface when an attempt is made to understand the
nature of space, and the relationship that obtains among bodies.

An affinity among bodies is what is called
gravitation. When this force operates among human beings, it is bio-psychic
affection. It can also be repulsion under certain circumstances. There is
chemical affinity and also psychological affinity, all which seem to be working
among human beings and even animals. It appears that Nature cannot manifest its
purpose except by expressing the inner content of its constituents. In every
movement of Nature, whether it is organic or inorganic, there seems to be a
secret characteristic which reveals the interrelatedness of bodies.

Precise
Working of Material Bodies: An Indication of Cosmic Intelligence

The deeper does one go into the world of
matter, and the further does one move in the direction of space, the more is
the insight one gains into the secret of the operation of Nature, the secret
being an organic relation among bodies, which appears to be outwardly scattered
in space. It is impossible humanly to imagine how the earth, for instance, can
move along the same track which it was following for aeons up to this time, as
if there is a set of rails laid down on its path in space. Man is used to
thinking that things, like the planet earth, are inorganic, inanimate,
incapable of thought, without eyes to see and minds to think. But the precision
with which bodies work surpasses even the best mathematical imagination.
Perhaps, man has invented the system of mathematics only on the observation of
the way in which material bodies operate. We are not intending to refute the
opinion of rationalists, like Kant, however, in connection with the grounds of
mathematical intuition. It cannot be explained how such a precision can be
possible at all, where the action of the mind is not even apparent. Though this
is difficult to understand because of man's habit of thinking, probably,
finally, he will have to come round to attribute an intellect or a reason to
what goes as inanimate existence. The inward affinity that physical bodies
reveal in their activities would sound as an implication of an organisation
that they form among themselves. There is, perhaps, a cosmic society, even as
man has his own little, small human society.

The social sense that human beings have is
a peculiar phenomenon. As observed earlier, the notion of human society is a
psychic network, which operates invisibly and subtly, connecting bodies or
individuals into a form of organisation called human society. In the formation
of this organisation, the bodies do not actually collide with one another.
There is no physical contact, necessarily. One human being can be several miles
away from others. Yet they can form a body. This shows that the system of
organisation or mutual relationship has little to do with spatial distance. It
is something different altogether.

If society is nothing but an organisation
of inward affinities, as is the case with human society, one can very well
agree that there is no way of explaining the intricate features behind the
operation of Nature except by accepting that there is a society of cosmic
substances. Is not the solar system thought to be one organisation? Certainly,
so. But the distance that is there between one planet and another, or between
the planets and the sun, or, as the astronomers point out, between the sun and
the other galactical bodies, is vast, enormous! It is said that there are stars
whose presence cannot be known even with the most powerful of telescopes. But their
presence exerts an influence of a unique nature by means of emanation of rays,
which, today, is recognised as a vital living influence. Thus, the acceptance
of the possibility of a cosmic society leads to the acceptance of an
intelligence behind it, from the observed fact of the precise working of the
bodies. Else, why should dead matter behave so sensibly and purposively?

Man does not seem to be living merely by
the operation of physical objects which are visible to the eyes. Perhaps, he is
even more dependent on invisible influences than on visible things, and his
life seems to be connected to factors which range far beyond human perception
and conception.

This is why, today, philosophers have
stumbled, somehow, on the acceptance of a process, rather than a location, of
bodies. Earlier, it was thought that things existed, or things can exist, only
within the boundaries of their bodies, and that they cannot have any relevance
beyond their location. But, the concept of process melts down this boundary
that is set to the bodies of substances, and bodies seem to flow into one
another rather than maintain their isolated existences. There is always a
craving within every body to become a part and parcel of another body. This is
the principle of affection, the principle of love that is seen in Nature. It
becomes more and more manifest as one rises to organic levels. This does not
mean that it is absent in inorganic Nature, but merely that it is not visible
to the naked eye.

Conclusions
of Science: Man Is not Outside the Universe

What does the modern scientist say?

Matter has been dematerialised. Matter is
no more considered to be a hard, solid substance. Man is gradually evaporating
into thin air – so thin, so ethereal, and so fine that a time has come now when
it is not possible to distinguish his own presence from the wider atmosphere of
the universe. The observing scientist, or the philosopher, is inside the
universe. This is important to remember. How can man look at the universe when
he is a part of it? How can man study anything in this world? How can he make
an analysis of any object, if he is not really outside it? From the fact of the
conclusions that one arrives at through the consequences following from the law
of gravitation, it follows that the universal structure cannot exclude the
contents thereof. Man is not outside the universe. This should be a simple
fact. If he is not outside the universe, how can he study the universe? Where
comes the need, and the necessity, or even the possibility of his observing
anything? Here is the crux of the whole situation. The problem that hangs like
an iron curtain in front of the modern scientist is this difficulty of his
inability to disentangle himself from the object of his observation. The great
physicist Heisenberg discovered that he was involved in the very thing in which
he was engaged. The body of the scientist is not outside the body that is to be
observed. This is a kind of corollary that follows from the famous Theory of
Relativity. The space-time-gravitation cosmos is one complex, or it may be
called a compound, if you like. It is such a terrific phenomenon that one gets
frightened even by thinking of it.

Study
of the Self Is Imperative to the Study of the Universe

While studying the non-mathematical, or,
rather, the super-mathematical nature of subatomic structures – this is the
field of subatomic physics – the nuclear physics which has been studied in
quantum mechanics and the Theory of Relativity, noticed that the force of
gravitation, which ruled the world of space and time, had to be reconciled
with. This great task, Einstein took upon himself, when he was working at the
theory called the Unified Field Theory, wherein "this" is identified with "that"
- tattvamasi – "That thou art!" – the famous doctrine of the Upanishad. The
quantum mechanics of Max Planck may be said to be the study of the "thou" or
the "this", the nuclear element, or the visible object, which is immediately
present as an individual structure; and the "that" is the space-time continuum
and the gravitation of the universe, which Einstein studied in his General
Theory of Relativity. The Special Theory and the General Theory put together
present a tremendous upheaval in the discovery of science. Man is forced to
study the universe together with a study of his own self, because he is not
outside the universe.

Inasmuch as man is not outside the
universe, he is integral with it. He is a small universe in his own self.
Whatever is in Nature should also be within him, and the system which is seen
to operate within himself may be said to be the system that operates in
external Nature also. So, Indian philosophers diverted the attention from the
objective universe to the subjective individuality in order that the whole
cosmos could be envisaged at one stroke.

There is an analogy in Indian logic called "sthalipulaka
nyaya," the argument of the recognition of the boiling of rice in a pot. While
boiling rice in a pot, if it is required to know whether the rice is fully
cooked or not, one grain is squeezed; if it is seen to have been cooked, well,
it may be concluded that the whole rice has been cooked, and every grain need
not be individually inspected.

So is this analogy of the study of the
cosmos by a study of man, as such. The study of man is the study of the
universe. "Know thyself" is the oracle of Delphi; "Tattvamasi" is the
proclamation of the Upanishad. That the knowledge of the self is the knowledge
of the cosmos is a universally accepted doctrine of all philosophies and
religions today.

Many a time, one is not able to understand
how it is possible for one to know the universe when one is here as a separate
individual. Where comes the connection between the knowledge of one's own self
and the knowledge of the universe, or vice versa? The reason is simple. The
universe is a complete organism, comparable to the human organism, so to say. A
complete organism is a total Selfhood. The whole cosmos is an organism, and it
is Selfhood in its nature. Its Selfhood can be compared to one's own selfhood,
because it is inseparable from one, and one is inseparable from it. That is how
man can, perhaps, try to understand it. The study of the universe is the study
of the Self of the universe, and the study of the Self of the universe cannot
preclude the study of one's own self. The knowledge of the universe is the
knowledge of the perceiver of the universe, i.e., one's own self. If one knows
one's own self, well, everything else also is known simultaneously, because man
is the small, or the microcosmic specimen, of whatever constitutes Nature as a
whole. One thing is the same as the other.

Perhaps, here, one gradually stumbles again
upon the truth that the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the Self mean the
same thing. They are not two different things. God is the name that is given to
the Self of the cosmos, the vitality behind everything, the indivisible
compound and the utter reality of the most inexplicable character behind and
within the universe. The knowledge of the Self is the key to the knowledge of
anything.

All philosophy, or any kind of
investigation for that matter, commences with immediately available evidence.
This is the method followed by logic, where, from the particulars one goes to
the generals; i.e., from available information the implications therefrom are
dug deep into, or, the other way, from the basic indubitable fact of being, all
else is derived as a corollary. The fault of the materialists lay in this, that
they misunderstood what the most immediate fact is. They took it to be the
world that they see around. They ignored the most immediate thing, one's own
existence. No one can doubt one's own invulnerable reality as the foundation
for any thought or action.